SHEEP-FARMING IN THE WEST. 133 



the Plains and in the mountains for a quarter of a 

 century leaves no doubt of the certainty of winter graz- 

 ing for horses, sheep, and cattle in that greater half of 

 our country. I am sure that wool can be grown there 

 equal in fibre to the best wools of Australia, Saxony, 

 Silesia, or Moravia, or at as low prices as any wool can 

 be grown on the cheapest pastures of the world, and 

 still leave a wide margin to the flock-masters for profit. 

 We ought to grow all the wool there not only for our 

 ow T n w r ants but for the use of the non-wool-growing 

 world. When we grow the necessary fibres I have no 

 doubt we shall then be able to produce cheap and fine 

 fabrics at prices that will enable us to compete in the 

 markets of the world with those of any country. The 

 overshadowing importance of this subject should attract 

 the attention of every economist in the country." 



Hon. W. D. Kelley, of Pennsylvania, who has spent 

 much time on the Plains, says of them : " Two indus- 

 tries, each of primary importance to the country, should 

 be introduced at an early day, because both will find 

 there the conditions under which they may be brought 

 almost immediately to absolute perfection. I mean the 

 growth of wool, both from the Angora and Cashmere 

 goats and the sheep, and the production of the best 

 beet-root sugar. For the latter, Grant, in his admir- 

 able little book, says the primary essentials are cheap 

 land and fuel and pure water. All these you have 

 wherever the melting snow of the mountains can be 

 carried for irrigation, and in the neighborhood of your 

 mountain streams. Your natural grasses and aromatic 

 herbage are identical with those of the great sheep-fields 



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